This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
The present disclosure relates generally to turbocharger systems used with internal combustion engines in vehicles, and more particularly to charge-air-cooler assemblies used with turbocharger systems in vehicles.
Turbocharged and supercharged engines generally are configured to compress ambient air entering the engine in order to increase power. Because compression of the air may cause an increase in air temperature, a charge-air-cooler is commonly utilized to cool the heated air; the cooling increases the air density which further increases the potential power of the engine. If the humidity of the ambient air is high, however, condensation may form on internal surfaces of the charge-air-cooler that is cooler than the dew point of the compressed air. During transient conditions such as hard vehicle acceleration, these water droplets may be blown out of the charge-air-cooler and into the combustion chambers of the engine resulting in increased potential for engine misfire, loss of torque and engine speed, and incomplete combustion, for example. If the condensation ingestion into the engine intake is severe enough, the vehicle's engine control module may light the “service engine soon” light, which is very undesirable.
It would be desirable to have a heat exchanger which has an integrated structure to capture the condensation, and the present development seeks to provide such a heat exchanger.